I asked in another thread, but thought I'd ask hear, too. Anyone big on Brendan Brazier and the Thrive plan? I put a couple of the books on hold at the library, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with it. I'd like to focus more on having a plan and improving my performance. I try to make good choices now, but I don't meal plan, and some days I'm low on protein or getting 70% of my calories from carbs, and I think fine tuning would help my energy levels.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

I have not. I have his books, though. I enjoy much of what he has to say about sports nutrition, but honestly, I think his food is a bit high maintenance and relies a bit much on ingredients I don't keep on hand (sacha inchi seeds, goji berries, etc.). I checked out a book a while ago that I felt like was kind of simplified version of many of Brazier's ideas. It's called "Racing Weight," and despite the title, it's about maximizing nutrition and positive benefits from food, rather than losing weight. The focus is on nutrition for athletic performance, but I think that much of the material is useful regardless of whether you're an athlete or not.

_________________These shitbirds should pay for their own elections if they aren't going to be obligated by any democratic pretense. - MumblesDon't you know that vegan meat is the gateway drug to chicken addiction? Because GMO and trans-fats. - kaerlighed

Jordanpattern, I could hug you right now. In looking at the previews of the Brazier books, the ingredients caused some trepidation. I have never even heard of sacha inchi seeds. That and, I don't know. I'm not looking to make my own sunflower milk or anything, but I'd like to get a better handle on what I should be eating. So is Racing Weight vegan friendly??

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

FWIW, if anyone else is looking at books, I don't recommend The Vegan Athlete unless you are a beginner. I thought I read that there were meal plans in either the sample or the reviews, but I'm not seeing any.

ETA: I found them. Meh.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

I found that when looking at it, there was some stuff that was more extreme than I was willing to get (mostly the tracking my progress, etc. since I'm not looking to lose weight, just improve performance, feel energized, etc.), but the program seemed pretty adaptable to different types of users.

_________________These shitbirds should pay for their own elections if they aren't going to be obligated by any democratic pretense. - MumblesDon't you know that vegan meat is the gateway drug to chicken addiction? Because GMO and trans-fats. - kaerlighed

I ended up downloading the ebook of Training Weight after my last comment. Had a little shopping spree and got Scott Jurek's Eat and Run and The Vegan Athlete, too. So far I am really liking Training Weight! Thanks for the recommendation!

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

I noticed some people mention they are part of the Eating the Food group on Facebook - is anyone still a regular there. I am part of it too, but... the anti-vegan attitude is obviously a bit hard to take. It seems if anyone brings it up they get told they are orthorexic and following diet-dogma, blah, blah. Then, I had someone in my real life recently tell me veganism is an eating disorder and she is truly concerned for me and my daughter. Jesus.

i had to block that a few months ago. it was getting a bit snarky, which is great in vegans but not allowed in anyone else. i vote we start our own group, called "diet support means be supportive, be nice or Shuttest The Forsooth Up!".

I'm not on FB and I so am not familiar with the ETF group, but I have run across similar sentiments in other ETF-type groups. Perhaps if you choose to eat a vegan diet thinking its a miracle for health and weight loss, yeah, you might have ortho tendencies, maybe. But a lot (most even?) seem to make the choice for ethical reasons, and there is something about that many non-vegans can't accept.

Anyway, I recently just started lurking on the Eat More 2 Weigh Less website and on the subforum on My Fitness Pal. Depending on what you are looking for, you could try those? Thus far I have not encountered snarkiness. The members are primarily female and they all seem really supportive and striving to be fit, healthy, and happy - including mentally and emotionally, not just physically.

I had to hide the ETF group from my feed. It just started feeling like a lot of people looking for validation, which was exhausting me for some reason. And then that, I'm eating the food and lifting the weights, when am I going to lose weight?! question kept coming up, and I just felt like that was missing the point a bit. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being grumpy.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

I noticed some people mention they are part of the Eating the Food group on Facebook - is anyone still a regular there. I am part of it too, but... the anti-vegan attitude is obviously a bit hard to take. It seems if anyone brings it up they get told they are orthorexic and following diet-dogma, blah, blah. Then, I had someone in my real life recently tell me veganism is an eating disorder and she is truly concerned for me and my daughter. Jesus.

I made a post in there at the start of summer basically saying "hey folks, I don't snark about your food so maybe lay off the vegan shit-talking. Eyes on our own plates and all that" and then had someone tell me that (in response to me saying I'm vegan for ethical reasons and not to hide an ED) she "eats meat for ethical reasons". I just about throw up on the screen at that.

And yeah, NDP, the feel of the group really changed, and is now seemingly full of a lot of folks struggling with ED which is not a place that feels very sane for me to be.

_________________"I'd rather have dried catshit! I'd rather have astroturf! I'd rather have an igloo!"~Isa

"But really, anyone willing to dangle their baby in front of a crocodile is A-OK in my book."~SSD

I had to stop going to that group as well. The anti-vegan attitude was a bit much to take. And yeah, I don't identify with the ED crowd in the group. There was the offshoot ETF group for women who wanted to lose weight and not deal with the ED posts, but I didn't find it that helpful.

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

Ok then! We can support each other here to eat enough food to support our activities! I didn't know how many of us were lurking around there! I like the idea that floats around there sometimes, about accepting and loving your body as it is now, but that always seems to get drowned out by everything else.j-dub, I remember that post, and I remember thinking that you were probably a ppker.

i'm in need of snacks for school that are portable, don't require the fridge (at least over the course of a day), gluten-free, no chocolate, and no nuts. also kind on the jaw.

nuts, in excess, give me migraines, so i can do them sometimes, but not too much. i used to bring a yogurt if i was able to eat within a few hours and luna or odwalla bars.

i've tried the glutino bars and they're okay, but a little pricey and the sugar left me nauseated sometimes. if you have ideas that don't have a ton of added sugar too that would be cool.

i know this is probably so obvious, but i have never been good at eating outside of my home for lots of reasons. and i just can't think of anything other than what i've always done. though buying bars online is probably the answer.

Are there any bars with the same kind of nutritional value/energy/fortified-ness of Luna bars and Clif bars that aren't so sweet? Probars feel like a rock in my gut.

I am having some health issues right now and I am having a really hard time eating enough. I always feel full but I need to get down a lot more calories, so I figure at least bars are something I can snack on between meals, but they are all too sweet for me. If I could stomach Vega bars I'd eat them, but just no. Larabars are fine but they're not giving me much in terms of supplements, protein, or fibre.

My diet right now is supposed to be carb heavy and clean, which is pretty much how I eat anyway, so I'm doing lots of hot cereals, toast and peanut butter, fruit salads, veggie stews, lentils, etc... My nutritionist wants me to drink three cups of fortified Vitasoy a day (!), which is fine, I guess, but it would be nice to get the nutrition from something else. I love Vitasoy, but that's a whole lot of soy milk!

What about bags of cereal that you could just eat dry? (eating that right now, ha) You could mix together a few kinds and it might be good. Primal strips? Carrots and shelf stable hummus or nut butter? Dried fruit?

i'm in need of snacks for school that are portable, don't require the fridge (at least over the course of a day), gluten-free, no chocolate, and no nuts. also kind on the jaw.

nuts, in excess, give me migraines, so i can do them sometimes, but not too much. i used to bring a yogurt if i was able to eat within a few hours and luna or odwalla bars.

i've tried the glutino bars and they're okay, but a little pricey and the sugar left me nauseated sometimes. if you have ideas that don't have a ton of added sugar too that would be cool.

i know this is probably so obvious, but i have never been good at eating outside of my home for lots of reasons. and i just can't think of anything other than what i've always done. though buying bars online is probably the answer.

Fruit? Apples, grapes, a tupperware full of fresh berries, clementines (in the winter) are the type of things I eat at the office. I have a tupperware of dried figs in my desk which are a great pick-me-up and keep forever. I also bring a batch of home made muffins from time to time, they keep for a few days.Some of my colleagues straight-up eat carrot & celery sticks or cherry tomatoes with a dip (hummus would work) at their work station.

I am the queen of on-the-go snacks. I almost always have at least 2-3 substantial snacks for work. Here are some ideas that don't require refrigeration or can handle a couple hours out of the fridge (to eat earlier in the day):

I second home-made baked goods. I also have some small tupperware type pots I make overnight oats in then bring to work sometimes. I generally do about half a cup of oats, some cut-up dried apricots and/or sultanas and/or dates, maybe a sprinkle of shredded coconut and the juice of half a lemon, or some cocoa powder, and water or soya milk. I do add nuts to mine, because I love the texture of soaked nuts. If you use flaked almonds you get a good result with not many nuts.

_________________"Let's narrow the potential audience to Hegan Seagans who are Beegan when they Freegan" - Tigon